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In a 1556 Ottheinrich binding: a unique compilation of the lives of five saints, followed by the History of the Longobards
Lives of Saints (and) The History of the Longobards.
Small folio (220 x 262 mm). Latin manuscript on paper. 114 leaves (complete), 38 to 48 lines in 2 columns, ruled space 123 x 182 mm, rubrics and headings in red. In an Ottheinrich binding, dated 1556, calf over wooden boards gilt and blindstamped by Petrus Betz: gilt central panel on upper cover with portrait of Ottheinrich and gilt legend; his coat of arms, initials and motto on lower cover; brass corner pieces with bosses; one clasp (of two). Stored in a custom-made red cloth box.
A unique and fascinating compilation of the life, passion, translation, and miracles of saints (Cyriacus, Gallus, Maurus, Goar, Burchard), further including Paul the Deacon’s History of the Longobards: a manuscript ensemble preserved complete in an exceptional binding for perhaps the greatest German bibliophile of his age, Ottheinrich, Elector Palatine (1502-59).
The texts of Walahfrid Strabo and Wandalbert von Prüm were highly popular in the Middle Ages, but the present, very specific sequence would appear to indicate a deliberate choice: dating from the 8th to 11th century, most of these hagiographical and historical texts are Benedictine and Carolingian, and the preponderance of saints featured in this volume share an overlapping region of particular veneration in the Worms area. Taken together, they blend legends and chronicles to provide a religious and secular history of a particular region and of a series of exemplary figures connected to its past - links which suggest a bespoke commission, possibly for use of the Lorsch monastery.
This fine Renaissance compilation was given an exceptional binding executed for Ottheinrich, Elector Palatine, in 1556: the brown calf cover features a blind-stamped rectangular frame consisting of couples of men and women in various poses and, within this frame, a blind-stamped, lozenge-shaped frame filled with vines, flowers, and female busts. Gilt-stamped fleurons adorn the inner corners of the rectangular frames, while rosettes appear above and below the gilt central panel on the lower board, which bears the arms, initials, and motto of Ottheinrich: "O[tto] H[einrich] P[falzgraf] C[hurfürst]” and "M[i]t D[er] Z[eit]”. The gilt central panel on the upper board, enclosed by a gilt-stamped putto and the date, offers a portrait of Ottheinrich, along with the legend "Otthainrich von G. G. Pfaltzgrave bey Rein des Heiligen Römischen R. Ertz- und Chür H. in Nidern und Ober Beyern". This was probably the work of the Heidelberg-based bookbinder Petrus Betz, a native of Augsburg active for Ottheinrich at this time. A nearly identical specimen is found on a Palatina manuscript (Cod. Pal. germ. 96) in Heidelberg's University Library. The illustrious provenance of the present volume stretches into the 18th, 19th, and 20th century, with later owners including Frederick North, the Earl of Guilford; Sir Thomas Phillipps; and Maurice Burrus.
1. The first text is dated 1501, and evidence of watermarks, script, and decoration all suggest that the manuscript as a whole was produced around the same time, very likely in southern Germany, possibly for the abbey of St. Cyriacus near Worms or at Lorsch. The contents suggest that this was compiled in the vicinity of Worms, as three of the five saints featured had were particularly venerated in the region. The abbey of St. Cyriacus was suppressed by the Elector Palatine in 1565, nine years after this book was acquired by his predecessor, Ottheinrich, so it may then part of a neighbouring monastic library, perhaps that of Lorsch, suppressed by Ottheinrich in 1556.
2. Ottheinrich, Elector Palatine (1502-59), one of the greatest bibliophiles and German collectors of the Renaissance. This 1556 binding was produced especially for Ottheinrich, most likely by the Heidelberg-based bookbinder Petrus Betz, indicating that this volume was part of Ottheinrich’s library by that date.
3. Frederick North, the 5th Earl of Guilford (1766-1827), with his engraved armorial bookplate to front pastedown. North’s library was auctioned in seven sales between 1828 and 1835.
4. Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), Middle Hill; his no. 11914 written twice in pencil on the front pastedown and printed on a small label on the spine; purchased from one of the Guilford sales (Phillipps, 1837, p. 206). Phillipps was an English antiquary and book collector renowned for having amassed over 100,000 manuscripts, the largest 19th century collection.
5. Sold by Sotheby's, Wilkinson, and Hodge, 19 May 1913, lot 1116.
6. Maurice Burrus (1882-1959), Alsatian politician and tobacco magnate; his 1937 lithographed bookplate and pencilled no. 834 to front pastedown. Burrus was an avid philatelist and bibliophile; he purchased the volume at the “Vente Hubner” in 1937, as recorded in purple ink on a small sticker in the lower corner of the rear flyleaf, recto (an adjacent sticker has additional bookseller marks from that sale.) - 7. Sold Christies, London, 25 May 2016, and latterly in a French private collection.
114, (1) ff. (early foliation in ink, upper outer rectos, 1-114; final blank unfoliated). Watermarks similar to Briquet no. 12625, Pot: Worms, 1499, Eppelsheim, 1499, Cologne, 1504; Briquet no. 1744, Armoiries - Trois fleurs de lis: Paris, 1482, Cologne, 1481-94, Siegen, 1482-89, Koblenz, 1482-1500; Briquet no. 8580, Lettre P: Belmont, 1500.
Written in six hands in two columns: Legenda de Sancto Cyriaco ff. 1-15v: partially above top line in light brown ink in a careful Gothic hybrida hand, 34-39 lines; blanks ff. 16-17; Walahfrid Strabo (ca. 808-849), Vita Sancti Galli, ff. 18-35; Vita Sancti Mauri abbatis ff. 35-46; Wandalbert von Prüm (ca. 813 - ca. 870), Vita Beati Goaris, ff. 46v-58: below top line in dark brown ink in a diminutive Gothic cursive hand, 45-48 lines; blank f. 59; Vita Sancti Burchardi episcopi Wormaciensis, ff. 60-67: partially above top line in faded brown ink in a Gothic cursive hand that goes from widely spaced to cramped over these pages, 23-42 lines; ff. 67v-70r, below top line in dark brown ink in a neat Gothic hybrida hand, 38-48 lines; Paulus Diaconus (ca. 720s-799), Historia Longobardorum, ff. 70v-75v: below top line in a spindly Gothic cursive hand, 38 lines; ff. 76-114v, below top line in dark ink in a diminutive Gothic hybrida hand, 42-45 lines, rubrics (underlined in red) in a larger, bolder version of the same script.
Binding lightly scratched and scuffed, cracking and wear at the upper hinge. Brass corner pieces with bosses on upper and lower boards, one intact fore-edge clasp and traces of another one. Spine rebacked. With leather fore-edge tabs (ff. 18, 36, 46, 60, 72) and traces where tabs have been lost (ff. 35, 70). Marginal annotation in multiple hands (see especially ff. 60-70), some cropped (f. 71). Very minor worming (ff. 1, 57-59) and occasional marginal spotting, otherwise in excellent condition.
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